HARRISBURG - The fate of an opponent for U.S. Rep. Bill Shuster, R-Everett, in November will not be decided for at least another month.

Art Halvorson, a Republican, and Adam Sedlock, a Democrat, are consolidating their write-in votes in the 12 counties of Pennsylvania’s 9th Congressional District. Each has the potential to win the Democratic nomination from the April 26 primary with more than the minimum 1,000 write-in votes required.

Halvorson, a “tea party” conservative, claims to have enough votes to win the Democratic nomination. He has not said whether he will accept the nomination, but he has attended vote hearings across the district. Should Halvorson win and reject the nomination, he still has the potential to bump Sedlock as a nominee.

The Byzantine process has been slow. A candidate asks that the names of similar spellings be consolidated under a single name. Depending on the county, the county court or the county election board determines the intent of each voter writing a name on the ballot.

"In all three court cases so far, the judges have agreed with us and granted us our petition," Halvorson said. "This (in Blair County on Friday) was another victory for the voters who saw all of their votes counted."

Adam Sedlock, a Fayette County Democrat, is conducting a write-in campaign for the 9th Congressional District seat during the 2016 general election.(Photo: Submitted)

The write-ins in Somerset and Fayette counties remain to be assigned. The Somerset Board of Elections meets May 31. Fayette County Court hears petitions on June 15.

“There is no absolute deadline in the Election Code as to when this has to be done,” said Wanda Murren, spokeswoman for the Pennsylvania Department of State.

Each county certifies its results, and the state bureau of elections presents the final tally.

“We do not have the final say,” Murren said. “We just add them up.”

The candidate having the most votes wins the party nomination, according to Murren. If the nominee does not accept the nomination, a vacancy is declared, and the Pennsylvania Democratic Party would will the vacancy. The nomination does not automatically fall to the second-place finisher in the primary

The last day for a nominated candidate to withdraw is Aug. 15. The General Election is Nov. 8.

Shuster, chairman of the House Infrastructure and Transportation Committee, was first elected to Congress in 2001. He escaped Halvorson’s grassroots campaign in the Republican Primary. Shuster won with 49,393 votes (50.6 percent) to Halvorson’s 48,166 votes (49.4 percent). Shuster won on the strength of the vote in the western part of the district.

Sedlock, a 62-year-old psychologist from Uniontown, Fayette County, announced his intentions of running for the Democratic nomination less than three weeks before the primary. He previously ran as a write-in candidate for Congress in the 2012 General Election after Independent Karen Ramsburg won the Democratic nomination.

Halvorson, a real estate investor and retired Coast Guard captain, finished second in the three-way in the 2014 Republican Primary.